ARTICLES ABOUT EAGLES BY DATE - PAGE 3

The last time the Eagles won an NFL championship, they wore kelly green jerseys. The next time they win one, if they ever do, they almost certainly will not be back in them again despite the bomb team president Don Smolenski dropped Wednesday morning in a radio interview on 94 WIP, saying the powers that be have discussed a switch back in time. The only problem is that getting a uniform change pushed through in the rigid NFL is about as difficult as organizing and enforcing a lasting peace in the Gaza Strip.

— As the preseason opener looms, don't expect the mystery of the LeSean McCoy-Darren Sproles dynamic to be solved any time soon. Both Philadelphia Eagles running backs have been seen on the field at the same time during scrimmage sessions at training camp. And the mismatch possibilities are almost limitless. But how they will employ them when the games start counting for real will not be known until then. "You've seen it a lot. I don't know how much more you'll see it," intentionally vague offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said before Tuesday's practice.

- On the field and off, NFL rookies are finding adjustments from their college days increasingly easier to make, thanks to the way teams have set up their operations and the year-round programs that are in place in all 32 cities. So expectations are not tempered as much as they used to be. Here in Philadelphia, all the Eagles rookies in training camp are expected to be able to step in and start, if necessary, on opening day, even if only one, wide receiver Jordan Matthews, has a realistic chance at this point to be on the field for the first offensive or defensive snap.

The football hung in the air as if the play had suddenly been switched to super-slow motion by some NFL Films simulator. Eagles quarterback G.J. Kinne had floated a desperation pass to the end zone, aimed at 6-foot-2 wide receiver B.J. Cunningham, isolated with 6-1 cornerback Curtis Marsh. It created one of those kinds of training camp battles that each player, based on their uncertain situations (draft choice by a previous regime three years earlier and undrafted rookie free agent signing by same previous regime in 2012)

- At an even 6 feet, Jeremy Maclin has gone from being the largest of the Philadelphia Eagles regular wide receivers to the smallest in a span of two seasons. His position group isn't the only one to experience huge growth since Chip Kelly was named head coach in January 2013, either. Among the multitude of changes Kelly has made to the roster and every other aspect of the football operation was to go for larger perimeter players on both sides of the line of scrimmage. His receivers and cornerbacks are bigger.

Kevin Greene knows a thing or two about getting to the quarterback. As an outside linebacker for 15 seasons, he finished his NFL career with 160 sacks. The retired star and former Green Bay Packers assistant coach arrived in town yesterday and will be here through tomorrow to help any way we can with getting the Eagles' edge rushers up to speed on how to pressure the passer. "He shouldn't even be here this weekend," defensive coordinator Billy Davis said. "He should be [at the Hall of Fame]

— Another scare, another guarantee from an otherwise preoccupied Jeremy Maclin. Maclin went down during Monday's practice at training camp, apparently with a leg injury. He returned to drills a little while later but then pulled himself out again for good. When he left the field after practice, visibly annoyed at the crowd and questions he knew he would draw, the wide receiver did not stop to address the issue but did say he was "OK" and that he would be back "out there tomorrow.

- It is a scene that is repeated every day at the end of practice during Philadelphia Eagles training camp this summer. One player, usually a rookie or a veteran new to the team, pulls a more experienced player over for a chat, picks his brain about what he could have done better, what he needs to do the next day, etc. On this day, following an intense practice in front of around 25,000 fans at Lincoln Financial Field, it was rookie nose tackle...

- Nolan Carroll seemingly has impressed everybody but himself in the early portion of Philadelphia Eagles training camp. The former Miami Dolphins cornerback has done something in every live session to disrupt the offense or create a turnover, yet he calls his performance disappointing. "I'm not doing it right now," he said, shaking his head. "I need to do more, actually. I'm trying to do anything I can, really, to start. So in my mind, I'm not satisfied. " Whether that is a defense mechanism to keep him from becoming content or complacent is unclear.

- How quickly the Philadelphia Eagles can get to the point where their defense is difficult or impossible to predict will determine how quickly they can get back into the true championship contention they enjoyed for the most part from 2000-08. Needless to say, it is a main priority in this summer's training camp under head coach Chip Kelly and defensive coordinator Billy Davis, who are transitioning to a 3-4 defense over time because they believe the change cannot be complete in one year or even two. So as they begin Year 2 of this transformation, finding the proper linebacker rotations will be crucial to the finished product.